Hialeah in 1924. (Florida Memory)
A far-reaching education bill that requires students to learn about “human embryological and fetal development,” mandates that school administrators allow law enforcement on their campuses, and prohibits schools from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts cleared the House Student Academic Success Subcommittee by a partisan 12-5 vote.
Filed by Fort Pierce Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy, HB 1071 has been referred to two other House panels for consideration before a full House vote. Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican from Vero Beach, has filed similar legislation in the Senate. That bill, which has yet to be heard, has been referred to three Senate committees.
The requirement that students in grades 6-12 be taught about “human embryological and fetal development” is a carry-over issue from last year that didn’t pass the Legislature.
Specifically, HB 1071 would require that students be shown a one-minute ultrasound demonstrating development of fetal organs and a three-minute computer-generated video describing conception and the stages of human development. The committee tagged on a lengthy amendment that, among other things, would require the information to be medically accurate.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has fought pushes in other states to air what is known as the “Baby Olivia” video, noting in a statement to CNN last year that, “like much anti-abortion misinformation, the ‘Baby Olivia’ video is designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers rather than to share evidence-based, scientific information about embryonic and fetal development.”
Another complaint is that the videos measure pregnancy from the moment of fertilization instead of from the first day of the last menstrual period. The shift makes fetal development appear two weeks longer than it would be in a clinical setting, where health care providers measure pregnancy from the last menstrual period.
No love for “Baby Olivia”
Trabulsy said the Department of Education, headed by Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, would develop rules to determine which fetal instructional materials will be shown to Florida students.
She encouraged legislators and members of the public attending the meeting to keep abreast of that process, noting that the department will have to publish notice of its proposed rules.
She also promised she’d work hard to ensure the DOE doesn’t choose the pre-existing “Baby Olivia” video to show students.
“I hate Baby Olivia, too. I think it’s a terrible video,” Trabulsy said. “I don’t want it. I don’t like vendor-specific, prescribed, legislation, so it’s not going to be ‘Baby Olivia’ when I get involved in the rulemaking. I just don’t like it,” she said.
But she did defend the teaching mandate.
“I don’t know what we’re scared of. We are just teaching about human development,” she said. “You know we teach how tadpoles become frogs and we teach how in a cocoon the moth becomes the butterfly but we’re not supposed to talk about how embryos become a baby.”
ICE in schools
The “human embryological and fetal development” teaching requirement wasn’t the only provision in the bill to draw criticism.
Trabulsy amended the bill to order local school districts and charter school governing boards to to “cooperate with law enforcement campus visits, including the use of canine units.”
The amendment continues: “Such policies must prohibit a school administrator from denying law enforcement officers … access to a district or charter school campus.”
Law enforcement is defined as “any person who is elected, appointed, or employed full time by any municipality or the state or any political subdivision thereof; who is vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests; and whose primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime or the enforcement of the penal, criminal, traffic, or highway laws of the state.”
That provision caught the eye of Sunrise Democratic Rep. Lisa Dunkley, who asked Trabulsy whether it would require school administrators to allow ICE officers on campus.
Trabulsy erroneously said that ICE agents aren’t allowed in schools. She said she offered the amendment because some schools aren’t allowing K-9 units on campus.
“That’s not what the intent of this amendment is. If we need to make it more clear in the future so that it gives you a comfort level I am happy to do that,” Trabulsy said.
Eliminating DEI
The amended bill also would:
- Ban laboratory schools from using racial or sex set-asides, preferences, or quotas in their admissions policies, requiring instead that admissions criteria emphasize merit and achievement with no regard to “race, sex, creed, color, or national origin.”
- Prevent a charter school implementing a school improvement plan from dismissing a student based on academic performance.
- Eliminate a requirement that school advisory councils created by the district be representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school.
- Ban public schools (including charter schools), school districts, charter school administrators, or school direct-support organizations from spending any money to purchase membership in, or goods and services from, any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion.
- Preclude public schools (including charter schools), school districts, charter school administrators, or school direct-support organizations from promoting, supporting or maintaining any programs or campus activities that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.
Equality Florida lobbyist Jon Harris Mauer said the prohibitions went too far.
“We’re concerned as drafted the funding provision on diversity equity and inclusion and political or social activism is far too broad. It’s unclear what problem this is solving. These activities tie education to real world problem solving, drive personal growth ,and encourage critical thinking. Having a politically and socially active community should be a goal of our education system, not something we are undermining,” he said.
–Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix
DontYouWishYouKnew says
Civil war here we come.
Allison J. Elledge says
“Another complaint is that the videos measure pregnancy from the moment of fertilization instead of from the first day of the last menstrual period. The shift makes fetal development appear two weeks longer than it would be in a clinical setting, where health care providers measure pregnancy from the last menstrual period.”
The abortion bill that passed says the exact opposite, and measures the age of the fetus from the first day of the last menstrual period, which of course is nonsense, as a woman cannot get pregnant during that time. It is intended to make the pregnancy longer than it actually is. For the ignorant: ovulation comes approximately two weeks later after the start of a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Marek says
Simply outrageous!
Kennan says
A problematic propaganda campaign
that gaslights a women’s right to her own body.
As far as ICE…. This is a subtle, smiling prerequisite to Marshal law if not met with pushback.
Robin says
I wonder if the bill would also mandate videos showing women bleeding out in hospital parking lots because they are denied proper medical care due to these stupid abortion bans.
Amber Thurman. Google what happened to her.